Coleen Rooney has announced that she and her footballer husband Wayne are expecting their fourth child together.

Taking to Twitter and sharing the happy news with her 1.25 million followers on Friday (August 18th), the 31 year old said that she’d had all the checks and scans and was now telling people, which was quickly re-tweeted by her husband.

“So Happy!!!... Never denied the news, but I was always protecting it!! Had scan & all checks are fine… Baby number 4 is on its way,” she wrote excitedly. She’s been spotted out and about surreptitiously trying to hide the bump over the last couple of weeks.

Coleen RooneyColeen Rooney is pregnant with her fourth child with husband Wayne

Coleen (whose maiden name was McLoughlin) and Wayne have been married since 2008, having met and fallen in love as teenagers in Liverpool. They are already parents to three sons – Kai, 8, Klay, 4 and Kit, who was born in January last year.

The entrepreneur and product endorser recently discussed the prospect of having more children, hinting that she’d now like to have a girl after raising three boys.

More: Coleen Rooney rubbishes rumours she’s about to head into the Jungle for ‘I’m A Celebrity…’

“I can imagine having a girl. I've got a massive family, so I'm around girls as well as having boys myself,” she told New magazine. “I'm not desperate but a girl would be nice as part of the family. It's not something I'd be upset about or dwell on.”

In another interview with MailOnline, firing back at speculation about what she wanted if she were to have more children, she said: “My mum is more desperate to have a girl than me because she’s got all grandsons. She’s got five of them so yes, she would like a girl. It would be nice. I’ve got two brothers and Wayne has got two brothers too so I come from a boy family. I’m used to having boys about.”

Her husband Wayne Rooney, also 31, is currently captain of the England international team and recently switched from Manchester United, where he spent 13 years, back to Everton where he had started his career as a teenager.

More: Wayne Rooney swaps for football boots for dancing shoes in comic elf vid [archive]